Secret Life of Ants: Fun facts to go with The Schiele’s latest exhibit

The Schiele Museum’s latest exhibit sheds light on the tiny creatures that scamper beneath our feet. “Farmers, Warriors, Builders: The Secret Life of Ants” will be available until April 6. The traveling exhibit provided through the Smithsonian Institution features 40 photographs by Mark W. Moffett, a photographer and entomologist. It also includes models, 3-D casts, touchable objects, entomology collections, and information on the study of ants. Attendees get a larger-than-life, up-close look at the insects and learn about their unique characteristics.

“They have such a complex and interesting biology,” said Dawn Flynn, adjunct curator of entomology at the Schiele Museum, in an email. “Plus, the diversity of all the forms of ants is fascinating when you look at them under a microscope.” Flynn provided these interesting facts about ants and their “secret life:”

* Ants are part of the insect group that includes bees and wasps, called Order Hymenoptera.

* Ants have a hard exterior skeleton, or exoskeleton, that encases their bodies.

* Ants range in size from 0.03 inches to 2 inches.

* Most species are black or red, but some are green or have a metallic look.

* Because of thicker muscles, ants can lift objects 50 times their own body weight.

* Most ants live about three months, but Harvester ants can live four to six months.

* Ants are found on every land except Antarctica, Greenland and Iceland.

* There are more than 12,000 ant species in the world, with the highest number of species in the area of Central America, South America, Africa and Asia.

* There are 1,000 species in the United States.

* Ants live in almost every habitat, including inside hollow stems.

* For every human, there are more than 1.5 million ants on the planet, scientists estimate.

* The weight of all the ants on Earth is roughly equal to the total weight of all people in the world.

* A single acre of land in the Amazon rainforest contains about 3.5 million ants.

* Ants enslave other ants and make them work for their own colony.

* Ants identify colony members by odor, which allows them to recognize and kill threats.

* The oldest known ant fossil dates back 92 million years. It was discovered in Cliffwood Beach, N.J.

SECRET LIFE OF ANTS

When: Now until April 6

Where: Schiele Museum, 1500 E. Garrison Blvd., Gastonia

Admission: Free for Schiele members; non-members, $7 for adults and $6 for children, students and seniors